POFO Anything Goes Thread. ((Warning do not enter if you can't handle fire))

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I would shoot Assad in the head if I got the chance, and I don't mean that flippantly. I'm absolutely ready to murder him.

At the same time, though, the rebels aren't good guys either. They've stated their intention to commit genocide against Syria's Alawite population. I can't lend my support to a rebel group with that kind of intention, no matter how many innocent civilians are caught in the middle.

It's shocking how many of the problems in the Middle East can be traced back to Western Europe's arbitrary drawing of lines and divvying up of natural resources. Ethnic groups were mixed that really should not have been mixed. Iraq is the poster boy for this but Syria has been damaged by it also. A shame really, not just for the obvious toll in bloodshed but for the damage done to Damascus, which is one of the world's historical treasures.

Syria sucks. It's a complete stalemate right now and it won't end anytime soon. As long as the rebels hold the border crossings with Turkey like they do they'll keep getting their smuggled weapons, but they'll still be outgunned by the government forces and I don't think they'll ever be able to take the important cities they need in order to win the war (Damascus, Aleppo). Both sides are fighting for victory, not a UN resolution. They're so hell bent on it that nobody can even broker a workable temporary cease-fire. And with all the outside forces exerting their influence, this thing will be dragged out as long as necessary and a lot more people are going to die before it finally ends. Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah want Assad to stay, and the Saudis and NATO want him gone.

It is hard to watch the footage without wanting to do something about it. I watched the Vice videos on YouTube a few weeks ago and it was hard to finish especially when they show the doctors trying to revive a guy who looks pretty well dead and caring for minutes-old babies who are still slimy and gunfire can be heard outside. And there are plenty of videos that can be found online of the executions, piles of corpses and body parts, and people being thrown off the tops of buildings.

But I don't see the benefit of getting involved either. Saddam was scum too but that war was a complete waste that got just under 4,500 of our soldiers killed. And like you said, the score-settling is inevitable when the guard changes in those countries. Right now the Shiites, Alawites, and Christians are preparing for the worst. If that country gets taken over by Sunni extremists, they could be even worse than Assad only they would direct their tyranny at religious minorities rather than political dissidents like the Assads have done for decades.

It will get worse before it gets better. Lebanon's civil war lasted 15 years and in that time Israel got involved, Hezbollah was founded, and ~150,000 people got killed. Syria could easily pass that number within the next couple years if this thing doesn't get resolved and neither side can win it.